Last night in our weekly den meeting, we worked on our astronomy belt loop. I was pleasantly surprised at our discussion, and a have a [slightly] renewed faith in our public education system.

It’s very encouraging to listen to 3rd graders talk intelligently about black holes, stars, pulsars, galaxies, planets, etc. We had a debate about Pluto’s planetary status, and we drew models of the solar system (some included Pluto in their model and some didn’t). The discussion even drifted into Star Trek for a bit … AWESOME!

I think the highlight of the night for the boys was when we got the telescope out. It was super clear and we had a great view of Jupiter and the Galilean moons. It was an experience that most of the boys had never had before, and I was super honored to facilitate.